Stay With Me
by forgetyouinsiberia
Summary: She had nothing holding her there, and as soon as her shift was over, she was leaving to move across the country. But something about him made her feel like she could have a reason to be tethered to a city she would've otherwise left behind without a second thought.


**A/N: **I was NOT going to write this. I've had so many ideas floating in my brain lately that this was the last thing I intended to write, even though I wanted to do something with Refrain. As it is, this is **so ** AU that I would understand if you didn't read it. Still, somehow I think it captivates a certain notion of chance meetings. I honestly believe that everyone we meet and how we meet them happens exactly how it's supposed to. And maybe it's possible that in a different world, Aria and Ezra met this way.

_Stay With Me _

Aria scrubbed the table in front of her roughly, determined to get the congealed cheese off of the table top without having to go find a brush and make soapy water. It had been a mildly busy night so far, but her current focus was getting finished with her shift so that she could get out of the coffeehouse and get home.

She heaved a sigh as the word ran through her mind yet again. What even constituted a home anymore? The mostly-empty apartment that she had been renting since she'd moved to New York with Jason couldn't count. Not after how he'd cheated on her and she had kicked him out.

'Home' didn't really exist with her parents either. Her mother was living in California with her new husband, and she couldn't stand to be around her father and his current girlfriend. He hadn't been too pleased with her when she'd left Rosewood as it was, given the fact that he didn't really care for Jason.

"Aria, you can punch out now," her manager said as she passed by her. Aria looked down at the watch on her wrist and realized that the older woman was right. It was past 8 PM. She was officially finished.

She sighed once more and wiped her brow with the back of her arm as she looked down at the table. Except for a small ring around where the cheese had congealed to the table, it had otherwise come off. Someone else could do a quick wipe-down when the place closed for the night, but it would be fine for the time-being. She replaced the paper centerpiece with a fresh one and placed the proper condiments and miniature signs back on the table before walking back to the kitchen.

She took her tips from her apron and the few other belongings she had in it before she removed the apron and hung it up on one of the pegs in the wall before she grabbed her timecard and punched out and then placed it back in the proper slot.

She walked back into the café and sat down at the counter as Hanna settled a cup of coffee on the counter for her. It was a part of her typical routine; or at least it had been. She would often finish with her shift and then sit and talk with Hanna while she drank a large macchiato.

"Are you **sure **you have to leave?" Hanna asked as she wiped down part of the counter in front of Aria. "I mean what about music? Or photography? Those were both things you said you wanted to do."

Aria's shoulders dropped as she held her cup of coffee in both her hands. "It's never going to happen, Han. Those were dreams that seemed achievable when I had someone helping to pay the rent and was able to consider going to school. I can't afford school, my apartment, and everything else I'd need on a part-time job in a coffee shop. It's too much."

Hanna shook her head sadly as she finished wiping down the counter. "That's such crap. Someone should beat the hell out of Jason."

Aria chuckled, even though it wasn't so much that she found the comment funny as it was that she couldn't help but agree. She looked around the coffee shop, and watched as a man walked up to the small stage in one of the corners of the room. They always had a good turnout for open-mic night. Normally, she would've capped off the night with a cover of a song, or something she'd written on her own, but she couldn't see sticking around that late.

"So when are you leaving?" Hanna asked sadly.

Aria shrugged, brushing a hand through her hair. "Probably as soon as I leave here. I've got everything I can take with me packed into my car already."

The sad expression on Hanna's face only worsened as the two women stared at each other for a brief moment.

"You suck for leaving," Hanna said sadly. "I wish you could move in with Caleb and I."

Aria smiled sympathetically at her and then turned her attention back to the stage. A part of her wished the same thing. Hell, she couldn't help but wish she had the stability that Hanna had. While her own life was falling apart, Hanna was engaged, and Caleb had actually achieved his dreams, running his own IT business. They lived on the upper east side and had change to spare. Hanna only worked at the coffee house to give herself something to do besides attending NYU to study fashion. She was well on her own way to achieving her dream of owning her own clothing line.

When her coffee was gone, Aria pushed up from the stool she was sitting on and tossed it into the trash. She could see the frown on Hanna's face continuing to deepen as she zipped up her sweater and pulled her hair to one side of her head as she brushed her fingers through it.

"I can't stay here forever, Han," Aria said as she pulled on the hem of her sweater to straighten it.

"Just play before you go," Hanna replied in a whine. "Don't leave without doing that."

Aria huffed and chewed on the inside of her cheek. She could feel Hanna trying to keep her there, but there was nothing that Hanna could do in three minutes that would change her mind. She was moving to California to live with her mother until she could get on her feet again.

"Fine," she sighed. She turned her attention back to the stage, and her mood lightened in just the slightest as the guy currently doing a terrible rendition of Dream On finished and walked off the stage.

She walked over to the small stage and grabbed an acoustic guitar before walking over to the stool in front of the microphone and sitting down. She settled the guitar in her lap and strummed a few chords before adjusting the microphone stand slightly.

Aria inhaled a deep breath and looked around. The usual crowd was there, and they all were looking at her expectantly. Most of the customers seated knew she was leaving. Hell, most of them even knew why.

As her gaze moved though the room, her eyes fell upon a pair of piercing, bright blue-grey eyes that seemed to almost stare though her as if they could read her like a book. She gulped at the demoralizing way he left her feeling by the way he was staring at her, and forced herself to focus.

"Hanna says I can't leave without playing something," she spoke with conviction, staring back at him. "So, I wrote this the other night, and I thought it would be a good way to say goodbye. This is called Refrain."

She strummed just once and began to sing, trying to take her attention off the guy continuing to stare at her so intensely.

"_please refrain 'cause I can't take your,_

_Your constructive criticism anymore_

_What the hell have you been building anyway_

_Between you and me, just a barricade,_

_I gotta say…" _

At the table farthest away sat a brunette girl with long curly hair. Aria had spoken to her on a handful of occasions and knew the girl was well on her way to being a lawyer. She came from a rich, conservative family. Her parents were paying for her to attend Harvard. Her boyfriend was just about to take his boards and become a full-fledged surgeon. Aria couldn't help but wish she had even _half_ the luck the girl did.

"_whoa, I can do so much better than this_

_I know, I know, I took the easy road again_

_And as for selling myself short_

_I have become notorious _

_Oh, oh I know I how it goes_

_This is the part where I realize that I'm alone, alone…_

_You always told me to be mature_

_Well I just don't know myself anymore_

_What's the point of being grown up anyway_

_So I can be like you? and give it all away_

_I got to say…." _

She inhaled a deep breath, trying to force down the knot that was forming in her throat, because she knew the words she was singing to the people in front of her, and even to herself, were the truth.

She remembered how her mother used to tell her that she would only ever date what she felt she deserved, and if she ended up with a guy that treated her like crap, she obviously needed to raise her standards.

Her eyes found their way back to the piercing blue eyes of the man who wouldn't stop staring at her. He bared somewhat of a resemblance to the guy with the brunette girl, but Aria doubted there was any relation. Still, the way he was looking at her was unnerving.

"_I can do so much better than this_

_I know, I know, I took the easy road again_

_And as for selling myself short_

_I have become notorious_

_Oh, oh I know I how it goes_

_This is the part where I realize that I'm alone, alone…" _

She almost wanted to laugh at her own ability to make herself hurt even more. She was one of those people who could spot a random person while she was out somewhere, and automatically think up a scenario of how they would meet, start talking, and eventually form some sort of an acquaintance at the very least. And as she stared at the blue-eyed man, she could feel the story forming inside of her.

A request for a coffee date that would extend into dinner. She'd be so enamored by him that she would end up hooking up with him. But tomorrow would come, and she'd have to leave. He'd ask her for her number, and they'd talk a few times. But that would be all that ever came of the once-in-a-lifetime meeting.

But then, she'd already written about this. And it was the last thing she wanted.

"_And everybody wants to fall in love in cinematic fashion_

_I don't, I don't…._

_And everybody wants to fall in love in cinematic fashion_

_I don't, I don't…._

_And everybody wants to fall in love in cinematic fashion_

_I don't, I don't…." _

Her voice drifted off into the air with the final strum of the guitar, and she couldn't help but smile as she heard people clapping for her. She smiled at the few people that she actually dared to look at before murmuring a thank-you.

She got off the stool and returned the guitar to where she had gotten it from and then made he way off the stage. She walked over to Hanna, and welcomed the hug that Hanna extended to her before they exchanged goodbyes. Hanna shoved a coffee cup into her hand once she'd released her and spewed out a stream of orders at Aria about how she was not to cut off communication and to come back someday.

They hugged once more before Aria walked out of the coffee shop and around the building to the parking lot. She opened her door and settled her coffee cup inside before she stood back up and looked around at the people standing outside the coffee shop. The fact that this was the last time she would ever walk out that building was hitting her hard. She wanted something, _anything_ to anchor her there and keep her there.

"Aria?"

She turned in her place, surprised by the unfamiliar voice in such close proximity. She turned in place, and gulped. It was him.

"How do you know my name?" She asked nervously.

"The girl in the coffee shop told me," he replied. His voice was like velvet, soft and welcoming. "She didn't want you to leave without this."

Aria looked down at what he was holding. It was her leather jacket. She reached out to grab it, and their fingers brushed just for the briefest moment. Her eyes shot back up to his as her fingers wrapped around the collar of her coat.

"Th-thanks." She stammered.

He nodded, just once. Her hazel eyes narrowed just the slightest, and her lips parted narrowly as her tongue brushed over the edge of her bottom lip.

If the electric charge of his touch hadn't been so enticing when his hands yanked her forward, she would've been shocked by the harshness of his grab, and the roughness of his lips as they pressed against her own. But it was like she was a plug and he was an outlet. It was something so far beyond anything she'd felt before, and she couldn't even begin to figure out how to understand it.

It was over far too soon for her liking, and as she settled flat on the ground once more, she couldn't help but wish it wasn't over. He still stood before her, unmoving and silent. Curiously, she pushed up onto the tips of her toes and brushed her lips against his. He shuddered and then cupped her face and held her up as his tongue brushed over her bottom lip. She welcomed the entrance, and the electricity surged that much more through her.

She felt as though she couldn't let him go. More than that, she didn't **want **to let him go. But again the kiss ended, and again her feet rested flat against the ground.

"I'm Ezra," he said breathlessly, as if it was a passing thought that he hadn't yet introduced himself. "And you're Aria."

"I'm leaving," she muttered, even as he fingers came to rest on her lips, trying to hold onto the kiss a little longer. How she had never met him before this day was beyond her, and it seemed like a cruel joke that she should meet him just when she was supposed to be leaving because all she wanted to do was stay and hold on.

"Don't go." He said it so simply that it was as if he thought the words could solve the slew of problems she had now, given that she couldn't afford her apartment and had effectively just quit her job. But with the next sentence that left his mouth, something built inside of her; a determination or need, that she absolutely had to stay. "I don't care what it takes. Just don't go."


End file.
